ABN AMRO Bank N : Dataistic Center aids in the fight against childhood cancer

Dataistic Center aids in the fight against childhood cancer

The Dataistic Center, an ABN AMRO initiative for data driven research with a social cause, Inspire2l!ve and the Princess Máxima Center have joined forces in the fight against childhood cancer. The goal? Minimize the time needed to analyze the data of a patient, diagnose and define a treatment approach.

News article 23 December 2020

Innovation

Prinses Maxima Centrum

Currently, computational analyses for diagnostic purposes in the field of childhood cancer takes 48 hours. These analyses use only a small portion of the complete cancer DNA, potentially missing valuable information. Analyzing the full DNA however requires five to nine days. Can we come up with a way to speed up this process? The Dataistic Center (DC) has accepted the challenge and brings advanced IT solutions and data science knowledge to the table in order to help accelerate the processing time of the patient data. In the last year bioinformatic experts, data scientists and IT specialists have worked together in this multidisciplinary mission.

Princess Máxima Center calculations

The Princess Máxima Center is a unique center dedicated to pediatric oncology. Every year approximately 600 children in the Netherlands are diagnosed with cancer. Currently 25 percent does not survive. Different steps are currently being taken and multiple types of calculations are being made to detect mutations associated with childhood cancer and to optimize treatment. However, these calculations are time consuming, while time is a costly factor. These calculations take time, while time is a costly factor in the treatment process. The Dataistic Center and the Princess Máxima Center collaborated to find a faster solution and speed up this time-consuming process.

The experiment

The Dataistic Center looked at the existing calculation methods within the Princess Maxima Center and where they could be improved. Existing IT hardware and software was also examined to see which upgrades could improve them. After the hardware was upgraded, it was the turn of the algorithms. New algorithms have been reviewed and existing ones have been improved. To conclude the experiment, all improvements found were tested in the Dataistic Center at ABN AMRO. This showed that the team can realize a time saving of 40% with the use of the new algorithm, which means that the total turnaround time is 6 hours shorter!

Inspire2L!ve

The Princess Máxima Center and the Dataistic Center were brought together by patient advocate organization Inspire2L!ve. Peter Kapitein, Chairman & patient advocate of Inspire2L!ive, on the experiment: 'We believe in bringing together different parties and inspire bold steps to improve cancer care. We often work with a combination of patients, scientists and doctors. It is very special that now a bank teams up with a hospital in this experiment!'

Dataistic Center for social causes

The Dataistic Center an initiative of ABN AMRO and Dell Technologies', was a unique initiative meant for data driven research with a social cause. Since the opening the center has been setting up new valuable and impactful collaborations. The lab has helped universities, medical institutions and charity organizations in their data driven exploration, research and experiments. The Princess Máxima Center is one of the latest additions to the center's portfolio of collaborators. In this collaboration the Princess Máxima Center made use of DC's IT solutions as well as DC's data science expertise. The Dataistic Center initiative ends in 2020, we will keep looking for chances to innovate and collaborate in order to contribute to the purpose of the bank; Banking for better, for generations to come.